Fragile…Must be Italian.

Good morning! With Winter solstice behind us, starting right NOW, all the days give us more sunlight!

Well, our team had a beautiful holiday newsletter all lined up for today, then thenews hit. Most of you are aware that we are striving for 300 new chapters (see below), but our quest for growth started a little earlier than June. It’s time to come clean.

As the NYT article exposes, it has now been made <very> public that the Pentagon had invested $22 million into the investigation of UFO’s. The article came with fascinating footage, from when U.S. Naval F/A Super Hornet pilots spotted an ‘unidentified flying object’ from 2004. In the video, they say there was a whole bunch, trust me, there wasn’t.

While everyone knows Walk with a Doc originated in 1967, some of you know we were starting to explore new areas of growth in earnest during 2004/2005.

Let me cut to the chase, it’s me in the spaceship.

And a big ol’ THANK YOU LESLEY for letting the cat out of the bag on the cover of the Sunday NY Times.

Here’s the backstory.

It’s often hardest to start something new in your own ‘backyard’, right? This led me to take to the friendly skies and explore a place to start Walk with a Doc. I got a little carried away, I would’ve gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for those blasted pilots.

So, yes indeed we are in 44 states (North Dakota, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, Utah and New Hampshire), 16 countries (welcomed Japan this week), but…we are also on 2 planets (Planet 438b in Goldilocks zone and Earth).

The Walks there (now up to 4 chapters) have been active for a little over 13 years and things have been going extremely well. Admittedly, there’s not much else to do on 438b – very urban but outside of a Jeep dealership and a Barnes and Noble, it’s fairly devoid of entertainment options. There are a couple differences between planets. The coffee at their walks tastes a little richer (similar to hickory coffee in New Orleans if you’ve tried that). And due to unique atmospheric properties and dimensions, everyone’s blood pressure is always 108/64 over there (we gave up checking in 2007). Other than that, we’re pretty similar. All our participants love connecting at the Walks and some of our regulars even like to dance. You will see this in footage we captured from the very first intergalactic Walk with a Doc. Backstory here: when I arrived in ’04, I saw it as a chance to start anew and asked to be known as ‘Thunder’. After than long UFO ride, you bet that we also felt the need to move.

Our COO at the time, Joseph, was kind enough to film it (her name is indeed Joseph and she first comes on screen at 0:25) That is her later on with the arms – crazy right?

Many of you would understandably call inhabitants of 438b ‘aliens’, we at WWAD call them ‘friends’.

You can see from our video, many 438b friends were dancing and not walking. It’s interesting, walking did not come naturally to our new friends. The first week, there were too many trips, falls, and spills to count.

Anyway, after we returned to Earth, we asked some friends from Ohio (Cincinnati) if they’d help us out with this problem. They went on to form a band some of you may have heard of, Walk the Moon,( at that time we were unable to call the band Walk the 438b due to secrecy). Well, they joined us on 438 and filmed thisbrilliant instructional video on how easy it is to Walk with a Doc. You can see how desolate some parts of that planet really are.

Thank you boys!

Remember our #goals?

Remind me: Walk with a Doc is coming to 300 new communities by June 30th, 2018. We need your help.

How can I help: Spread the word! Pick your favorite way to share each week from the options below.

What’s in it for me: You’ll help to create 1 million extra years of life! (see the math here) That’s right. That means 1 million extra years of Real Bearded Santas. #awesome. Also, $100 Gift Card to Amazon.

How many communities have you added so far? Glad you asked. Since June 2017, we’re added 83 communities and counting (see below). Maybe the next one will be yours?